The big year is finally here

Published
12:00 am CST, Friday, January 10, 2014

Now that 2014 is finally here, it means different things to a lot of people. To most people another year has gone and a new year has come. But to me and my fellow senior class, this is our big year: the year we finally graduate. I can remember way back to elementary school when my mom looked up my graduation year on the computer; 2014 seemed like a million lifetimes away to a young kid struggling with long division and multiplication. I was sure I had plenty of time until then to figure out just what I was going to do and how I would live my life.

Now that 2014 is here and I look back to that day when I first learned my graduation year, it really does seem like it has been a million lifetimes since I was that little kid in elementary school. When I entered high school as a 14-year-old freshman I knew there were only four years left of my childhood; those four years seemed much shorter than they did when I was young. I’ve had the honor to be a proud member of the JHS soccer and the JHS track and field team for the four years I’ve been at Jacksonville High School. I’ve made many friends that will last a lifetime and memories that will last even longer.

As a senior there are several questions that all of us have probably answered a thousand times over: Where are you going to college? What are you going to do? Are you ready to move on? What seem at first like common questions that should be easy to answer really cut to the core of the four short years we’ve had at JHS. What college we’re going to depends on how we’ve done academically over our four years, what we’re going to do depends on what we have enjoyed the last four years, and if we’re ready to move on depends on what we’ve done for the last four years. The answers may be different for everyone, but one thing remains the same person to person: This is it 2014, our last semester walking through the halls as a student at Jacksonville High School. While I’m definitely ready to move on with the rest of my life, I’m not ready to leave behind the life I enjoy now. Everyone thinks about the freedom and the new life that comes with moving on after school, but not too often do you hear mention of what’s being left behind. All the friends and family we’ve made in our time here won’t be moving on with us. Everyone will be moving on in their own way, taking their own path.

I’m not saying that I wish I could go back and have more time living the life I do now, but I’m certainly not in any rush to leave it behind. The time will come when we take those first steps into the rest of our life, and when it does, I know I’ll be ready. However, I’ll take those first steps with my head turned back over my shoulder remembering the good times, not regretting that they’re gone, not sad that they’re over, but glad I had them and knowing I wouldn’t change a thing for all the time in the world.